House staffers want subpoena tossed

Thursday

Sep 20, 2007 at 12:01 AM

By: Kori Walter

HARRISBURG - A top aide for ousted House Democratic Whip Mike Veon is one of seven House staff members asking the state Supreme Court to toss out subpoenas issued in a grand jury probe of the $3.6 million in bonuses awarded to House and Senate staff last year, according to court records obtained Thursday.

David Bliss served as scheduling secretary for Veon, D-14, West Mayfield, who was defeated in November after 22 years in the House. Bliss received a $15,185 bonus last year, according to figures House leaders released earlier this year. He now works as a research analyst for House Democrats, according to payroll records.

Attorney General Tom Corbett subpoenaed Bliss to appear before a grand jury in Harrisburg, according to court records.

Corbett is investigating whether the lawmakers awarded bonuses to staffers for campaign work or the extra pay was for legislative duties.

Court records show the attorney general also issued subpoenas for:

-Jennifer Brubaker, director of the House Democrats Office of Legislative Research.

The documents available from the Supreme Court listed only the case numbers and a brief paragraph indicating lawyers the House staffers and House Democratic leaders have sought to block the subpoenas.

Tom Andrews, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, a Greene County Democrat who represents parts of Fayette County, referred questions to attorney William M. Sloane, chief counsel for House Democratic leaders, who refused to comment. A spokesman in Corbett's office also declined to discuss the case.

House Democrats paid a total of $1.9 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to Bliss and dozens of other staffers, who also spent time campaigning for candidates that helped the party grab a one-seat majority in the House.

While House Republicans and Senate Republicans and Democrats also paid bonuses to staff last year, the House Democrats' bonuses totaled about $700,000 more than the other three caucuses combined.

No charges have been filed against either Republicans or Democrats in the case, but records reportedly were seized in an Aug. 23 raid of the House Democrats' legislative research office.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported that several staff members appeared earlier this month before a grand jury in a courtroom across the street from the state Capitol. It was unknown whether the staffers testified.

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